Meet Our Presenters
Roi Ben-Yehuda
is a lecturer at Columbia University and the department of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is currently working on his doctorate from the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Roi holds MS and MA degrees from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary respectively, and completed his BA degree at New School University. His academic concentration is wide-ranging, with a particular interest in applying dynamical system theory to understand and address protracted conflicts. Roi’s articles have been featured or quoted in publications such as the New York Times, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, Al Jazeera, France 24, The Forward, The Daily Star, Publico, Common Ground, 972 Magazine, and The Epoch Times. His work has been translated into multiple languages including: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, and Indonesian. Joshua Spodek Joshua Spodek is an educator, scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and leadership coach. He has been called the “Best and Brightest” by Esquire Magazine’s Genius Issue, “Astrophysicist turned new media whiz” (NBC), and “Rocket Scientist” (Forbes Magazine and ABC News). Josh is a currently a Professor at NYU and a leadership and executive coach for Columbia Business School’s Program on Social Intelligence. He holds five Ivy-League degrees, including a PhD in Astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia University. Josh helped build an X-ray observational satellite orbiting the Earth as part of a multi-billion, decade-plus mission led by the European Space Agency with NASA. Josh has also co-founded several education ventures, and has taught art at Parsons the New School for Design and NYU-Tisch’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. He leads seminars in Leadership, Creativity, Sales, Strategy, and Motivation at Columbia Business School, Harvard, NYU-Stern School of Business, INSEAD Singapore, the New York Academy of Science, and in private corporations. Tania Luna Tania Luna is the co-founder of Surprise Industries (the world's only company specializing in surprise). She is also a leadership trainer at LifeLabs New York (a company that helps people master life's most useful skills), a researcher, TED speaker, and co-author of the book Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected. Deborah Goldstein Deborah Goldstein founded two companies to help professionals maximize their careers. Goldie’s Table Matters (GTM) enables professionals to maximize networking opportunities and business development in a setting conducive to building rapport. Strategic Dining℠ was created by Goldstein in 2008 and has been summed up as “Peter Drucker meets Anthony Bordain meets Miss Manners”. A business meal can lead to serious business. DRIVEN Professionals (DRIVEN) provides businesses the opportunity to outsource or bolster their women’s initiatives. The DRIVEN community provides cross-industry networking opportunities and perpetual professional development through a woman’s lens. DRIVEN addresses women holistically and supports their members in leading “richer” lives. Deborah is DRIVEN’s own best student, constantly learning and sharing life’s best practices and integrating work and personal life. Adam Stone and Todd Stone The Stone twins (“Stone and Stone”) were semi-finalists on "Last Comic Standing," they were the leads in a series of Verizon FiOS commercials, and they have performed on New York Friars Club roasts for people including Dennis Rodman, George Takei and Padma Lakshmi. They also host a web series presented by truTV called "Grown up, Grown down," which accompanies the show “How to be a Grown Up.” Their “Stone and Stone Show" is the longest-running standup show at The PIT, and you can find them performing at clubs and theaters throughout New York. They have performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the New York Comedy Festival, and they also played twin villains in a web series called "Penelope Princess of Pets," written by and starring Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler. |